By: Marie-Line Petit
Box Score
Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser volleyball team earned its first conference win of the season on Thursday night against the Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders in thrilling fashion, winning three sets to two.
“I am extremely proud of our team's effort tonight,” said head coach Lisa Sulatycki. “We didn't give up and we fought until the last point."
Madeleine Hait (Burnaby, BC) had a strong performance as she led the team with 14 kills and 20 points. Jessica Young (Vancouver, BC) also had a strong night as she recorded 17 kills and 17 points.
SFU freshman setter Tamara Nipp (Vancouver, BC) was a driving force in the Clan offence as she notched 54 assists in the match.
“We really worked on playing point for point and it turned out in our favour," said Nipp. “We wanted to keep things simple and we went back to what we worked on in practice and it really paid off tonight."
After taking the first set, SFU was a point away from taking the second set, but the Crusaders went on a 5-0 run and took the set 27-25, to tie the match at one set apiece.
Both teams kept battling hard, splitting the next two sets as SFU took the third 25-23 and NNU took the fourth by an identical 25-23 score, forcing a do or die fifth set.
In the final set, the score was close early on as the teams were tied at six. Then SFU went on a 5-0 run and didn't look back, taking the 15-11 victory and the match three sets to two.
With this win, the Clan's record improves to 4-13 and 1-9 in conference play.
The Clan will be back in action Saturday against the Central Washington University Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. in the West Gym.
